1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to laboratory glassware, and particularly to a disposable polymer-structured filtering kit for use in small-scale vacuum filtration of solid-liquid samples.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vacuum filtration, a common technique used in chemistry laboratories, involves passing a liquid containing a solid through a porous interface so that the solid can be trapped as the liquid flows therethrough. Typically, a vacuum filtration kit for small-scale filtration includes a filter funnel, an adapter and a receiving receptacle.
A typical vacuum filtration kit using the above three components has a vacuum port formed through the filter funnel. Such a kit typically includes a glass filter funnel with a vacuum take-off port connected to a vacuum source and a glass filtrate receptacle for receiving the solution. The funnel typically has a ground joint for coupling with a filtrate receptacle, and has a fritted glass filter disc for filtering any insoluble materials.
Another typical vacuum filtration kit may have a vacuum take-off port integrated into the adapter. The kit includes a glass filtering funnel without a ground joint, the glass adapter with the vacuum take-off port, a rubber adapter for coupling with the funnel, and a receptacle for receiving filtrate.
In yet another typical vacuum filtration kit, a vacuum take-off port is integrated into a filtrate receptacle. The kit includes a filtering funnel, the filtrate receptacle with the vacuum take-off port, and a rubber adapter for coupling the funnel with the filtrate receptacle.
With each of these vacuum filtration kits, during the filtration process, the fluid to be filtered is placed into the funnel and the filtrate receptacle is attached. Negative pressure from the vacuum is applied to the vacuum take-off port. The pressure differential caused by the vacuum causes the fluid to pass through the filter and into the receptacle. Thus, the insoluble material is collected on the fritted disc.
Following usage, all of the components of the vacuum filtration kit must be cleaned in order to eliminate contamination. However, the glassware is susceptible to accidental breakage and shattering during the cleaning process, particularly since some of the components are difficult to clean by hand. Some of the above components are relatively expensive to replace, particularly the glass filter funnel with the glass fritted disc filter, because these are typically made by hand. Additionally, the cleaning process is quite time consuming, particularly when viewed in the laboratory setting, where time is an important factor in many experiments. Thus, a disposable polymer-structured filtering kit solving the aforementioned problems is desired.